Japanese PM to meet with Obama next Friday

WASHINGTON 
The White House says Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh ah-bay) will meet with President Barack Obama next Friday.

Economic and trade issues, as well as Japan's security partnership with the U.S., are on the agenda for the White House meeting. Obama has also said the two will discuss a response to North Korea's test this week of a nuclear device at a remote underground site.

Obama has called the test a "provocation" and says he and Abe have agreed to cooperate on measures aimed at impeding North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He says the U.S. remains committed to defending Japan, including by nuclear means.